The country we want to live in

The country we want to live in Hate crimes and homophobia in the lives of black lesbian South Africans Nonhlanhla Mkhize,Jane Bennett,Vasu Reddy,Relebohile Moletsane ...the number of black lesbians who have been murdered has increased. Silence on this matter is not an option in the country we want to live in. Policy Analysis and Capacity Enhancement Research Programme Occasional Paper 1 Series Editor: Temba Masilela, Executive Director: Gender and Development Unit in the Policy Analysis and Capacity Enhancement Research Programme at the Human Sciences Research Council Published by HSRC Press Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa www.hsrcpress.ac.za First published 2010 ISBN (soft cover): 978-0-7969-2341-7 ISBN (pdf): 978-0-7969-2342-4 ISBN (e-pub): 978-0-7969-2343-1 © 2010 Human Sciences Research Council Copy edited by Lee Smith Typeset by Nazley Samsodien Cover design by Jenny Young Printed by [name of printer, city, country] Distributed in Africa by Blue Weaver Tel: +27 (0) 21 701 4477; Fax: +27 (0) 21 701 7302 www.oneworldbooks.com Distributed in Europe and the United Kingdom by Eurospan Distribution Services (EDS) Tel: +44 (0) 17 6760 4972; Fax: +44 (0) 6760 1640 www.eurospanbookstore.com Distributed in North America by Independent Publishers Group (IPG) Call toll-free: (800) 888 4741; Fax: +1 (312) 337 5985 www.ipgbook.com Foreword I was deeply honoured when I was asked to write a foreword to this critical and obviously long-overdue work. I am also deeply sad that so many years after our country’s liberation, with the most advanced Constitution in the world, we are still having discussions about the increasing violence against women, particularly lesbians, and attempting to find strategies to address and remedy this situation. We live in a misogynist society – in a world that uses tradition, culture, religion and all other accepted ‘reasoning’ to justify prejudice and the need for power. Women, whatever their station in life, are second-class citizens who will remain vulnerable until this status quo can be changed. I am very fortunate to come from a family of very strong, independent women. I grew up with my mother, my grandmother, my sister and many aunts and great-aunts, who all taught my sister and me about resilience and self-sufficiency. But I also remember being very confused by the endless ambiguities around issues of gender relations. My grandmother would tell me to go to school so I could stand up for myself and not depend on a man, but then in the same breath tell me to be a lady so I could net the perfect man to take care of me one day. Obviously, from my little experience, I already knew this was never going to happen. But even with the ambiguity, my grandmother has always been the first real activist in my life. There was a large open field with overgrown grass next to my home, and I must have been about six years old the first time my grandmother ran outside to investigate a screaming female voice coming from the bushes. She ran out, screaming ‘Hey!’ at the top of her voice. Two men came out of the bushes, rounded the corner and disappeared. My gran found the terrified woman, a little bruised, clothes torn, but otherwise okay, and brought her into the house. She spent the night on the couch, fed, warm, and no questions asked. There were a few more women after that, all of them rescued by my gran. v ... - tailieumienphi.vn